In general, a sleeping bag is a bag that is warmly lined or padded for sleeping outdoors, for example in a tent. Sleeping bags may also be used for sleeping on the floor inside a house, such as on a sleepover, or may be used as convenient bedding material when traveling.
Sleeping bags typically include a bottom portion, upon which an individual within the sleeping bag lays, and a top portion which extends over to cover the individual. Often, the top and bottom portions are made of a single, large rectangular insulated or padded fabric that is folded and attached along bottom and side edges to form the bag. The attachment is typically made by a zipper.
Sleeping bags are often folded lengthwise and rolled into a tight cylinder for storage. After rolled, most rolled rectangular sleeping bags are tied with tie cords, compression straps, or elastic straps, or may be otherwise secured so that the sleeping bag does not become unrolled during storage.
Other sleeping bags may not be rolled for storage, and instead may be stuffed into a storage sack, sometimes called a stuff sack. Stuff sacks may also be used for rolled sleeping bags.
In general, when a sleeping bag is put on display at a store, it is desired that the sleeping bag look large, or fluffy, so that a user will perceive that the fill for the sleeping bag is sufficient to keep the user warm and is also comfortable. Thus, if possible, the sleeping bag is presented so that it looks rather large. However, for shipping, particularly shipping overseas, it is desired that the sleeping bag be compacted as small as possible so that shipping charges, which often are set by volume, may be minimized per sleeping bag.
These two different goals are hard to meet in a single sleeping bag container. Moreover, because the use of store personnel is expensive, stores do not want their employees to have to re-package items, such as sleeping bags, so that the items can be placed on a shelf.